All thumbs down on Raymond's Forest Park deal
On a dry 98-degree day in Portland, some folks are expressing their opinions about the city's secretly negotiated deal to allow PGE to mow down trees and run new transmission lines through Forest Park, a project that has previously been rejected 12 to 0 by the City Council.
The NW Examiner has the lowdown here, and it's a salvo of flying brickbats for Portland city administrator Raymond Lee, who signed the agreement, apparently on his own initiative, on behalf of the city. Lee isn't returning the Examiner's phone calls, and has left it to yet another one of his flacks, Chenoa Philabaum, to answer the questions and criticisms.
Here are a few highlights from the Examiner story, but the whole thing is well worth a read.
“Neither members of the council nor the mayor were decision-makers or signatories to the settlement agreement,” Philabaum wrote. “That agreement was made between the city’s executive branch and PGE.”...
“We have a carpet-bagging city administrator who is wasting no time in leaving his mark,” Paul Douglas wrote. “I thought the city administrator worked under the mayor under our new, so-called charter reform. Is the mayor culpable for allowing his underling to set policy like this?”...
“The city and the conservation advocates agreed to enter into mediation with PGE to attempt to agree on an alternative to PGE’s proposal,” according to a Bird Alliance of Oregon newsletter. “After four months of mediation, city leadership entered into bilateral negotiations with PGE, cutting out the conservation partners from the negotiation.”
I love where Philabaum talks about the "executive branch." It's like when Raymond identifies himself as "City administrative leadership." What a bag of hot air.
At some point, the mayor, Keith Wilson, needs to step up and face the music on Forest Park. Lee is his pick to represent us in this fiasco, and several others. We didn't get to vote for Raymond, and certainly wouldn't have. Grandpa Keith, you need to pick up when the Examiner calls.
Makes me wonder exactly what sort of future power consumption…data centers perhaps? And who got paid off?
ReplyDeleteThis isn’t a tempest in a teapot. However, it does make me wonder why thoughtful people didn’t see this as an eventuality.
ReplyDeleteAs they say, you only have one chance to make a first impression...
ReplyDeletePGE has a robust Public Affairs department that focuses on government relations and issues. PGE knew, or should have known, that Raymond's signature on any significant legal agreement is worthless unless supported by a documented majority vote of the City Council.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have is, did Raymond really think he had the authority to act on his own in this situation? If he did, he is much more incompetent than I previously thought he was.
You have to wonder if LeeIII will cash out with one of the city's typical "give away the farm" settlements before the mayor either quits or declines to run for re-election. Read the charter, folks: LeeIII cdould get bounced by the council. He's on borrowed time--and probably campaigning at his "conferences" for another punch on his ticket.
ReplyDeleteExactly what would be the removal process? I thought that under the charter, the mayor could fire him unilaterally (subject to a big payout., per his contract).
DeleteHmmm...
ReplyDeleteAbout his "Responsibilities" - "F. Upon delegation by the Mayor, and consistent with the budget, authorize, negotiate, and execute all contracts, legally binding agreements, and intergovernmental agreements."
https://www.portland.gov/code/3/06 (City Code Chapter 3.06 - Office of the City Administrator)
I think part of this is that the City Council is supposed to be a neutral set of judges when the land use appeal rolls in. Probably this contract was the mayor's call, with consultation with a few concilors, but everybody has to act like it was Paymond's decision alone. Gee, maybe the charter doesn't work. Ask Candace what the charter commission was thinking. What? She's not here? She's where? VIENNA???
ReplyDeleteYeah. And this is making me wonder again about the headhunting firm that arranged Lee's hiring here. Did they present him as a suitable finalist because of his friendly relationship with them + he was 'losing' his job in Greeley? I felt certain we could have done so much better, but for the limited choices they'd offered as the finalists.
ReplyDeleteI would bet that the headhunter was motivated by collecting a fee and didn’t care much on finding a good candidate. I wonder how many candidates the headhunter submitted for consideration.
DeleteYeah, well, as best I can tell, they'tre ruling the roost now. Giving Lee's precious "retreats" to city personnel and headhunting for the deputy manager openings. But lay any blame on Wilson. Raymond is all his doing.
DeleteI bet Wilson’s never dealt with a headhunter. Probably trusted the firm. You’re right Wilson’s out of his depth.
DeleteThis is too perfect: “Philabaum” literally translates to “tree-loving” (“phila” being Greek for “love” and “Baum” being German for “tree”). It makes one wonder if this is a real person or a character from a Thomas Pynchon novel.
ReplyDeleteI had argued for years that we needed a City Manager position in Portland. This was not what I had in mind (Doc from 2024. Jordan giving the CA way too much power. Go figure.).
ReplyDeletehttps://www.portland.gov/policies/administrative/general/adm-202-delegation-mayor-and-city-administrator-authority